German women washing clothes at a water hydrant in a Berlin street.

A knocked out German scout car stands beside them, 3rd July 1945.

In those areas of Berlin that the Red Army had captured and before the fighting in the centre of the city had stopped, the Soviet authorities took measures to start restoring essential services.

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Almost all transport in and out of the city had been rendered inoperative, and bombed out sewers had contaminated the city's water supplies. The Soviet authorities appointed local Germans to head each city block, and organised the cleaning up. The Red Army made a major effort to feed the residents of the city. Most Germans, both soldiers and civilians, were grateful to receive food issued at Red Army soup kitchens, which began on Colonel-General Berzarin's orders.

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During and immediately following the assault, in many areas of the city, vengeful Soviet troops engaged in mass rape, pillage and murder. Red Army soldiers were astounded when they reached Germany.

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"For the first time in their lives, eight million Soviet people came abroad, the Soviet Union was a closed country. All they knew about foreign countries was there was unemployment, starvation and exploitation. And when they came to Europe they saw something very different from Stalinist Russia ... especially Germany. They were really furious, they could not understand why being so rich, Germans came to Russia"

Oleg Budnitskii, historian at the Higher School of Economics in Moscow.

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Despite Soviet efforts to supply food and rebuild the city, starvation remained a problem. In June 1945, one month after the surrender, the average Berliner was getting only 64 percent of a daily ration of 1,240 calories. Across the city over a million people were without homes.

Source: Wikipedia